BRITAIN'S WORST TROLL

'WE MAKE STUPID MONEY'

O'Brien said: "Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations.

"Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine."

O'Brien said the largest humanitarian crisis is in Yemen where two-thirds of the 18.8million people need aid.

The Arab world's poorest nation is bogged down in a brutal conflict and O'Brien said more than 48,000 people fled fighting just in the past two months.

World facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the UN was founded in 1945

AP:Associated Press

Stephen O'Brien begged the UN Security Council for cash to help

After visiting South Sudan, the UN humanitarian chief said "the situation is worse than it has ever been" after a three-year civil war.

He said: "The famine in South Sudan is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine as are those not intervening to make the violence stop."

O'Brien said more than 7.5million people need aid –1.4million more than last year – with around 3.4million South Sudanese displaced by the fighting.

Reuters

Malnourished Saida Ahmad Baghili, 18, lies on a bed at the al-Thawra hospital in Yemen

Reuters

A malnourished boy lies on a scale at a malnutrition intensive care unit in Yemen

In Somalia, which O'Brien also visited, more than half the 6.2million population need humanitarian assistance and protection – including 2.9million who are at risk of famine and require immediate help "to save or sustain their lives".

He warned that almost a million children under the age of five will be "acutely malnourished" this year.

O’Brien said situation mirrors "the tragic picture of 2011 when Somalia last suffered a famine."

E-Berny@dfid.gov.uk

A malnourished child is given a high-calorie peanut paste in Somalia

But he added that the UN's humanitarian partners have a larger footprint, better controls on resources, and a stronger partnership with the new government.